Thursday, October 27, 2005

Security: Zotob Cost $97K per Company

The worm that struck in August was classified as a low risk but infected businesses had to pay a big price.
By Priya Ganapati
October 27, 2005

The Zotob worm that crippled corporate computer networks in mid-August cost infected businesses an average of $97,000 to clean up, but its impact was milder than the Slammer or Sasser worm outbreaks, a security software company said Thursday.

Some 61 percent of the organizations hit by Zotob reported that cleaning their systems required more than 80 hours of work, Cybertrust said. The healthcare industry experienced the greatest Zotob impact with 26 percent of companies experiencing problems from Zotob, compared to 7 percent of financial institutions.

Cybertrust surveyed 700 companies about the Zotob worm’s impact.

The financial losses caused by the Zotob worm and its impact on businesses, rather than on home users, revealed a new trend. Zotob heralded the rise of the “business worm,” with security threats aimed at businesses rather than at individual users, experts said. What’s more, these new worms are often driven by a strong motivation of financial gain

More at Red Herring Online

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